Gameweek 6 Review – Suarez Hattrick

October 2, 2012 ★

Suarez was the star of the Gameweek, with a hattrick, an assist, and bonus points.

Musings from Gameweek 6

Fellaini and Baines Disappoint

Despite Everton’s great comeback, the lack of Fantasy points from favorites Fellaini, Baines, and Pienaar left many a Fantasy manager cursing the heavens. Looking at the underlying numbers does not give reason to panic. Fellaini had seven shots, with two on target, an exceptional number for a midfielder. Add to that his one chance created and you could say that, on average, this is a game he would have delivered Fantasy points. Fellaini owners should not despair.

The same could be said of Baines, who created four chances, and Pienaar, who created two.

In contrast with the aforementioned trio, Jelavic was back with a bang. Scoring a brace and assisting, he delivered 16 points and is yet another viable option from Everton.

Fletcher Defying Regression

With zero chances created and two shots Fletcher scored yet again. He has an incredible five goals in four games, accumulating three bonus points in all games he has played this season. He is such a tempting purchase, but all the stats tell us that he is bound to regress to a more realistic goals per game ratio and goals per shots ratio.

Also, Sunderland’s schedule reads Man City away, Newcastle at home, and Stoke away in the next three. Those are some tough games.

He is a wonderful striker, but don’t expect the same output in the next four games.

On Fire Ba

Like Fletcher, Demba Ba has been a revelation this season. He was moved to the left and lost his goal scoring touch after the introduction of Papiss Cisse to Newcastle last season. However, this season Ba has rediscovered the magic and scored six goals including the brace at the weekend. He is a choice backed up by the stats as he has 20 total shots, which means he scores in a little over third of his shots. This should be more likely to be sustainable over the course of the season.

At only 8.1 (from a starting price of 7.5) he is still good value but faces touch fixtures in the near future (MUN, sun, WBA, liv). However, he scored a brace away at Everton, so he could well deliver in these four games.

Is Suarez an Option?

Liverpool’s season “started” this Gameweek, with a resounding win over Norwich. Suarez was the star of the show, with a hattrick, an assist, and bonus points. He’s an intriguing option going forward, and will tempt many a Tevez owner with a swap before next Gameweek.

Old Guard Delivers

Silva has quietly picked up pace, delivering an assist in his last two games. He was man of the match against Fulham and has created 18 chances this season, bettered only by Baines and Cazorla. Sometimes you have to plan for the whole season, and I believe Silva is exactly the type of player you accept a slow start for future value.

Bale also picked up pace, but in anything but a quite way. His speed and strength was too much for Manchester United and he delivered a fantastic 16 Fantasy points with a goal, two assists, and three bonus points.

Mata outshone Hazard against Arsenal, scoring and setting up Torres in Chelsea’s win.

Another old guard delivering Fantasy points that would surprise you is Nani, who has two assists, a goal, and a bonus point in his last four games. It’s not spectacular, but consistent.

I’ve touched on this point before and will repeat myself: Think carefully before you jump on the new player bandwagon. Sure, it’s satisfying to get players in early and benefit from the price rise. But, more often than not the proven Fantasy players will outscore the new ones over the course of the season. This means that you have to pick your new players carefully so as to not be left with a team of players that showed promise but ultimately failed to deliver.

Hold On To Berbatov

You don’t need to sell Berbatov. There is an international break after next Gameweek, with the game played on October 20th. Berbatov is reported to be out for two weeks, so he will only miss one game.

Watch Out for Aguero and Rooney

Aguero and Rooney both showed what their teams were missing through their absence. Don’t forget the pair, who scored 23 and 27 goals last season, respectively. Aguero is an exciting option, with City’s fixture list (SUN, wba, SWA, wha, TOT, ASV).

Gameweek 6 Captain Picks

I’m documenting whether I’m passing the test with my captain picks. If a captain pick scores over three points in the Gameweek it is considered a success and I am also noting double digit Gameweek scores.

In the Friday Foreplay for Gameweek 6 I recommended Fellaini, Van Persie, and Baines as the captain picks. As documented above, the Everton players were disappointments while Van Persie delivered a single assist. Not good. Not good at all.